Bobsledder Steve Holcomb on hot streak before Sochi

Jeff Zillgitt | USA TODAY Sports

U.S. bobsledder Steve Holcomb knows what people are thinking and saying.

Sure, he is an outstanding 7-for-7 in World Cup bobsled races this season – three golds in four-man and four golds in two-man – but the domination has taken place on North American sliding tracks in Calgary, Park City, Utah, and Lake Placid, N.Y.

But can he do the same or similar in Europe in the second half of the World Cup season on tracks in Winterberg, Germany; St. Moritz, Switzerland; Igls, Austria; and Konigsee, Germany?

"Despite what a lot of people think and say, 'Well, Holcomb's only fast in North America and he falls apart in Europe,' that's not exactly true," Holcomb told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. "Just like we're really hard to beat on North American tracks, the Germans and the Swiss are hard to beat on their tracks. It's just the way it is.

"We're on track to do well, and I think we will do well. I'm really coming around on those tracks. We're competitive. We've won a medal on every single one of those tracks. In fact, I've won on every single one of those tracks."

With his incredible start to the season, Holcomb, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics four-man gold medalist, established himself as an early favorite for four-man gold and a medal favorite in two-man at the Sochi Olympics in February.

"A lot of different factors are coming together," Holcomb said. "This is an Olympic year. We've been training really hard all summer. BMW and Bo-Dyn are both stepping up to the plate and working hard to make sure we have the best equipment. I've got a great push crew. They're focused and they really want to win. When you get all three of those coming together, we're hard to beat."

Nearly four years ago in Vancouver, Holcomb ended a 62-year gold-medal drought for the U.S. in four-man and now he's trying to repeat in four-man and become the first American male to win gold in two-man since the 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Olympics.

What makes Holcomb's start more impressive is that he is driving two new sleds designed by different manufacturers. Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project, headed by former NASCAR driver Geoff Bodine, built the four-man sled, and BMW, headed by lead designer Michael Scully, built the two-man sled.

While both sleds are made of carbon fiber, an aerodynamic upgrade from the 2010 sleds, Holcomb is racing them for the first time in World Cup competition and the sleds do not have the same exact steering mechanism. Some of the squabbling between the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and Bo-Dyn has dissipated, and there is a modicum of cooperation between the three parties.

"They've really stepped up and realized that we need to work together if we want to win another medal," Holcomb said. "It's been a great relationship so far. The mechanics from Bo-Dyn and BMW want to win. It's their passion to win. They have the knowledge and expertise. They want to make the sleds faster."

Holcomb and the U.S. bobsled team leave for Europe after Christmas and resume World Cup racing the first weekend in January in Winterberg. Right now, mechanics are tweaking both sleds.

"What's kind of scary is that we still haven't dialed in these sleds," Holcomb said. "We're still trying to figure out how to make these sleds faster. Over this break, we're going to make some changes and upgrades to the sleds. So I think we're going to go even faster."